Book · in order

Anne Rice Books in Order

By the Bingerun team · How we choose the order →

Eighteen novels across two series that quietly become one, plus three AMC adaptations. Read in publication order with a single change: finish the Mayfair Witches trilogy before Merrick, because that is where the witches walk into the vampire books and never leave.

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This order covers 18 of 21 entries, and intentionally skips the rest.

  1. Interview with the Vampire 1976

    Louis tells his life to a reporter in a San Francisco room. The one everybody starts with, and the only Rice novel that works completely on its own.

  2. The Vampire Lestat 1985

    Lestat answers Interview and calls Louis a liar. Nine years later, and it retells the first book from the other side.

  3. The Queen of the Damned 1988

    Picks up directly from the end of The Vampire Lestat and opens the mythology out across the whole species. Introduces Pandora, Marius and Armand properly.

  4. The Tale of the Body Thief 1992

    Lestat swaps bodies with a mortal. Introduces David Talbot of the Talamasca, who matters a great deal later.

  5. Memnoch the Devil 1995

    The Devil gives Lestat a tour of Heaven and Hell. Divisive, and the last book before the series splits into character studies.

  6. Pandora 1998

    New Tales of the Vampires. Her own story, far richer if you have already met her in The Queen of the Damned.

  7. The Vampire Armand 1998

    Armand's origin, from Kyiv to Renaissance Venice. Reads as a companion to Pandora and Blood and Gold.

  8. Vittorio the Vampire 1999

    New Tales of the Vampires. Connects to almost nothing else, so read it whenever you like or skip it without losing a thread.

  9. The Witching Hour 1990

    Starts the Mayfair Witches. Thirteen generations of a New Orleans family and the spirit called Lasher. Published between Queen of the Damned and Body Thief, but read it here.

  10. Lasher 1993

    Direct sequel. Do not read the back cover if you can help it; the title alone gives away where The Witching Hour lands.

  11. Taltos 1994

    Closes the witches trilogy. Finish this before Merrick and the crossover lands the way Rice intended.

  12. Merrick 2000

    The junction. Louis and David seek out Merrick Mayfair to raise Claudia's ghost, and the two series become one from here on.

  13. Blood and Gold 2001

    Marius tells his two thousand years. Largely a standalone character study, and the last quiet book before the threads braid.

  14. Blackwood Farm 2002

    Adds the Blackwood family to the vampires and the Mayfairs. Assumes you know Merrick.

  15. Blood Canticle 2003

    Ties vampires, Blackwoods and Mayfairs together and ends the original run. It stayed the ending for eleven years.

  16. Prince Lestat 2014

    The return after an eleven-year gap. Gathers the surviving cast and reorganises vampire society around Lestat.

  17. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis 2016

    Takes the mythology somewhere genuinely strange. Sequel to Prince Lestat and not a good entry point.

  18. Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat 2018

    The last novel Rice finished before her death in 2021, and the current end of the written series.

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Why this order?

Anne Rice wrote two separate series and then merged them, which is the whole reason this page exists.

The Vampire Chronicles opens with Interview with the Vampire in 1976 and runs to Blood Communion in 2018. Lives of the Mayfair Witches is a self-contained trilogy published between 1990 and 1994. For years they sat side by side in the same New Orleans without touching.

Then came Merrick in 2000. Louis and David go looking for a witch, and the witch is a Mayfair. From that point the two series are one: Blackwood Farm in 2002 brings in the Blackwood family alongside them, and Blood Canticle in 2003 braids all three threads together and closes the original run.

So strict publication order technically works, but it hands you the Mayfair trilogy in the middle of a vampire series with no warning, and it means meeting Merrick's family before you have met the family. The order below fixes that with one move: read The Witching Hour, Lasher and Taltos as a block before Merrick rather than wherever their publication dates fall. Everything else stays chronological by publication, because Rice wrote these to be read as they arrived.

The two New Tales of the Vampires books, Pandora and Vittorio, sit outside the main spine. Pandora rewards you if you have met her in The Queen of the Damned; Vittorio connects to almost nothing and can be read whenever.

There is a gap worth knowing about. Blood Canticle in 2003 reads like an ending, and it was one for eleven years. Rice returned in 2014 with Prince Lestat and wrote two more before her death in 2021. Blood Communion is the last novel she finished.

Timeline 1976-2025

Every entry by release year: rows that share a year are a cluster, and the long droughts are called out on the rail.

  1. 1976 Interview with the Vampire
  2. 9-year gap
  3. 1985 The Vampire Lestat
  4. 1988 The Queen of the Damned
  5. 1990 The Witching Hour
  6. 1992 The Tale of the Body Thief
  7. 1993 Lasher
  8. 1994 Taltos
  9. 1995 Memnoch the Devil
  10. 1998 PandoraThe Vampire Armand
  11. 1999 Vittorio the Vampire
  12. 2000 Merrick
  13. 2001 Blood and Gold
  14. 2002 Blackwood Farm
  15. 2003 Blood Canticle
  16. 11-year gap
  17. 2014 Prince Lestat
  18. 2016 Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
  19. 2018 Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat
  20. 4-year gap
  21. 2022 Interview with the Vampire (AMC)
  22. 2023 Mayfair Witches (AMC)
  23. 2025 Talamasca: The Secret Order

Where to play it today

  • All eighteen novels are in print in paperback and ebook, and most are on Audible
  • The AMC series stream on AMC+ in the US, with regional deals varying elsewhere
  • Availability rotates; check JustWatch for your region

Availability changes often and varies by region - links search each platform for Anne Rice.

Frequently asked questions

How many Anne Rice books are in the Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches?

Eighteen novels. Thirteen in The Vampire Chronicles, from Interview with the Vampire in 1976 to Blood Communion in 2018; two in the New Tales of the Vampires side series, Pandora and Vittorio, both published 1998 to 1999; and three in Lives of the Mayfair Witches, published 1990 to 1994. This guide also tracks the three AMC adaptations.

What order should I read Anne Rice's books in?

Publication order with one change. Read the Mayfair Witches trilogy as a block before Merrick (2000) rather than where its publication dates fall. Merrick is where the witches enter the vampire books permanently, and arriving there without having read The Witching Hour, Lasher and Taltos means meeting a Mayfair before you know what a Mayfair is.

Do I need to read the Mayfair Witches to understand the Vampire Chronicles?

For the first six vampire novels, no. They do not touch. From Merrick in 2000 onward, yes, in practice: Merrick, Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle all assume the Mayfair family and its history. You can push through without them, but the last three books of the original run will feel like they are referring to a story you have not been told.

Can I just read Interview with the Vampire on its own?

Yes. It is the only book here that is completely self-contained, and it was written as a standalone eight years before Rice returned to the world. If you read only one, read that one. Be aware that The Vampire Lestat then reframes it as an unreliable account by a narrator with reasons to shade the truth.

Where do Pandora and Vittorio the Vampire fit?

They are the New Tales of the Vampires, a two-book side series. Pandora works best after The Queen of the Damned, where she first appears, and pairs naturally with The Vampire Armand and Blood and Gold as the run of character histories. Vittorio connects to almost nothing else in the universe and can be read at any point or skipped without losing a thread.

Is the Anne Rice series finished?

The books are. Anne Rice died in December 2021, and Blood Communion in 2018 is the last novel she completed. The screen universe is not finished: AMC has aired three seasons of Interview with the Vampire with a fourth in development, and two seasons of Mayfair Witches with a third in post-production for 2027.

Do I need to read the books before the AMC series?

No, and the show does not expect it. AMC's Interview with the Vampire moves the framing story, changes major characters and reworks the timeline rather than adapting scene for scene. Mayfair Witches diverges from the novels considerably as well. Readers get the pleasure of spotting what was changed, but neither series is a reading test.

What is Talamasca: The Secret Order, and do I need it?

It is the AMC series about the secret order that studies both the vampires and the Mayfairs, and which readers first meet through David Talbot in The Tale of the Body Thief. It ran for one season in late 2025 and was cancelled in March 2026, so it is a single closed season rather than an ongoing commitment. It is optional in either direction.

Why is there an eleven-year gap in the middle of the series?

Blood Canticle in 2003 was written as an ending, and Rice left the vampires alone afterwards to write other books. She returned with Prince Lestat in 2014, followed by Realms of Atlantis in 2016 and Blood Communion in 2018. The three late novels form their own arc and assume you have read the earlier run.

How long does it take to read all the Anne Rice books?

The eighteen novels run to roughly seven thousand pages together, which is around a hundred and twenty hours of reading at a typical pace, or a similar figure on audio. The Vampire Chronicles alone is about two thirds of that. There is no need to take it as one run: the first six vampire novels, the witches trilogy and the late Prince Lestat books each work as their own stretch.

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